What's Up Doc

Sunday I went to the Doctor...fish.

I had seen a coffee shop near my house called Dr. Fish Coffee Shop and thought that it was just one of those store names that had been lost in translation. Turns out, these types of coffee houses actually feature little fish, referred to as "Doctor Fish." They are called this because they feed on the diseased and dead parts of your skin, leaving your healthy skin alone. Apparently they are frequently used for people with psoriasis and eczema. They also are found in spas, used as a natural pedicure. In Korea, though, they just stick the tanks in a coffee shop.

We had to order a drink when we got there, and then pay 2,000 won/person for the fish as well. The fee also included an all you can eat white bread buffet....sweet? We washed our feet off before putting them into a tank in the ground. Upon placing my feet in, the fish rushed over to nibble. I totally freaked. Not only did it of course feel and look extremely strange, but I was so ticklish! For the first few minutes I laughed and screamed a lot, but then I started to get used to the feeling. The doctor fish are basically like little minnows, so the feeling is not intense or anything like that. This is what they look like:



Not my photo, my batt was dead--what a shocker. We paid for 15 minutes in the tank, and I had pretty much had enough anyway. I don't know how much dead skin the little buggers really took off, but it was quite a sensation.

A Little Piece of Home

In my Memory Mega class (strange names for these classes, I know). I had two middle school boys sitting in the front row. I soon found out that these little glasses-wearing buggers were named...Michael and Eddie...just like my two wonderful brothers, except Asian. I passed on this information to the students, but they did not care. It's kind of like when people tell you, "you look just like my friend _______ (fill in the blank)." Meaningless.



Unfortunately Michael does not keep up with the times and does not have facebook. No pics of Mike, but look at this strapping young lad, EJK. Who would have thought I would be constantly reminded of my siblings in a class full of middle school Koreans?

Miss you guys.

A Whole New Term

It's hard to believe, but I have been here for over 3 months now. The time has flown by. At CDI, the students and teachers begin a new term every 3 months. The students either level-up to a higher class in the progression, or stay at the same level, depending on their test scores. The books, of course, change for those who do not level-up. This also means new classes for us teachers. We receive a new schedule, and a whole new lot of students. This term I have 5 different levels instead of 4, but the same amount of hours (last term I had a repeat of one class). The extra class is hardly extra work, though...maybe 20-25 minutes extra prep, if that.

I don't want to speak too soon and jinx myself, but so far, the term has gone off without a hitch. I am definitely feeling enthusiastic about the upcoming months. This is mostly because my students, overall, are awesome. My first class of the term was my lowest level that I will be teaching this particular term. Even though the younger kids are always more talkative, it is not wise to have high expectations on the first day. It usually takes a few weeks for the kids to warm up to us enough to feel comfortable to participate. Well, that was definitely not the case with this class. Almost immediately, the kids were shouting out answers, asking questions, finishing my sentences, even laughing and joking with me. That has thus far been the best of all 5, but the others I have been pleasantly surprised with as well. Not only do the kids have good personalities, many have really impressed me academically already. It's always nice having intelligent kids in class because first, obviously they make my job easier, but also because they understand my jokes and actually--god forbid--laugh with me.

My one student, Jooui, who I had for about half of last term also, gave me a box of chocolates from Japan today. She also mentioned that they were very expensive, which made me laugh and she did not understand why. I definitely don't think she was lying though, because wow, these chocolates are a delectable treat. Maybe that is what inspired me to write this post. It's possible my students aren't as good as I am making them out to be...
Only time will tell. Tomorrow I will probably be annoyed with them.

No Orange or General Tso's Chicken, Sorry

Ten pounds later, I somewhat regret my food experiences in China. Actually, I take that back. The delicious meals were well worth the excess chub. The Chinese love the banquet-style dining apparently, because that was pretty much all we came across while there. I thoroughly enjoyed the somewhat tacky, but communal setup.




The first night, we were taken to a restaurant by some westerners living in Beijing. No speaking for me, only eating:




Duck, pork, chicken, tofu, potatoes, an assortment of vegetables, it really doesn't get much better. I should also mention Baijo, the Chinese version of Soju...except 10x stronger. It tastes horrific and will do strange things to you. Oh, and costs like $0.50. Perfect for the new year.

The next day, when we were biking around Beijing, we went to a famous Peking duck restaurant. They cut the duck right in front of us:



It literally melted in my mouth. I'm salivating just thinking about this duck. They eat duck dishes similar to Korean bbq style; dip the duck in duck sauce, add some vegetables, and wrap everything in a thin rice pancake. Another opportunity to eat with my hands...yes.

That night we went to a restaurant where we were told we could get spicy dishes. The food in China is incredibly cheap, and the menus are endless, so it took us about 45 minutes to decide on what to get. In the end, we ordered 13 dishes (for 5 people mind you).




The above dish is actually a bull-frog stew. It was full of this strange seed-type substance that made your mouth really tingly and then almost go completely numb. It took a while to source what was actually making our mouths feel such a strange sensation, but once I ate the seed on it's own, it was like a shot of novocaine to my tongue.

Love the food in China, don't love the bathrooms. One upside is the fact that there are public bathrooms nearly every block, which is really convenient for someone with a bladder like my own. Although, considering the condition of the bathrooms, you may as well just go on the street. Toilet paper does not exist, not even in our hostel. Thankfully, some of the people I went with knew this little piece of information and brought some with. TP was definitely the least of my problems. Your typical Chinese bathroom:



This particular one was actually relatively clean. It's not hard to find a bathroom because you can smell one from 30 feet away. I think I mentioned earlier that it was freezing outside when I was there, and these are all outdoor. So the cold weather makes the experience that much more inviting. However, I cannot even imagine the stench in the summer...it's really a lose/lose situation.

The Great Wall

On our last day in Beijing, we hiked the Great Wall. The wall is almost 9,000 kilometers long, so there are a number of different paths tourists can take while hiking. We signed up for a tour through our hostel described as being less touristy and featured more of the older parts of the wall; somewhat of a "backroad." I was completely unprepared for what was to come. First of all, it was totally breathtaking. It seemed like it went on for eternity. Not to mention walking on something with so much history is somewhat overwhelming. Here are some pictures, they definitely do not capture the experience, though.







(Insert awkward tourist picture here)



Another aspect that really took me by surprise was the "hiking" part. I thought that walking the wall consisted of a long, but mostly leisurely, stroll on a path that had some rolling hills. Yeah, no. We began the journey with a climb and I knew I was in for a real treat for the next 6 hours. Many of the parts were almost completely vertical, with stairs coming up to my hips. This is no exaggeration. I was panting and sweating the majority of the time.







Did I mention that I fell? Because I did. I kept thinking that the path was a lawsuit waiting to happen because it was full of loose rocks, divets,steep ups and downs, basically anything conducive to injury. I don't really know if that applies in Communist China though...
I may have acquired permanent knee damage, but hey, at least I got a good glut workout in.

Beijing

I can't really write anything about my trip to Beijing, because anything that I say will just not do it justice. It was incredible. My prediction was correct, I am head over heels for the city. Something about the spirit of the place...it's indescribable. Anyway, here are some pictures of the adventure






Above is Tiananmen Square and the entrance to the Forbidden City, featuring a tacky picture of the Chairman Mao









The Forbidden City (above)







The Temple of Heaven (above)

Did I mention that our mode of transportation on this particular blistery day was bikes? Our hostel rented out bicycles for something like $3 for the entire day. We repped Korea by sporting the animal hats the majority of the day. My polar bear was the best, no doubt. Anyway, biking around was really fun until the sun went down and I lost all feeling in my toes.




This was only part of Sunday. Much more to come!

Cephalopods

As promised, I got access to the videos and pictures from the "octopus experience," i.e. eating it live. There really is not much to say about it other than the fact that I watched Andrew Zimmern do it, thought it was badass, and wanted to claim it as my own. Well, I talk a big game. First of all, there are apparently two ways to eat live octopus: baby octopus, in which you literally eat the entire creature in a bite, eyeballs and all. The other way is to eat a larger one's moving tentacles. We walked into the restaurant and were told the the only way this particular place served it was the tentacle way. I kept saying to my friends, "yea, yea...no, that's okay. That is fine with me...let's just do the tentacles," trying to play it cool as if I just didn't feel like going somewhere else. A full baby octopus? I just don't know about that. So if we're going to get technical here, what I ate had just been killed, but still moving.

Anyway, it came out and chills shot right up my spine. I did not expect to have the bodily reaction that I did. I felt like I was taking a final exam or something, I had butterflies just looking at these slimy things slithering around in front of me. In fact, you can hear me say "I'm seriously like, nervous" in the video. So the anticipation built even more as I could not pick one up. They are feisty little guys and suck to anything. I finally just picked one up with my hand. Eating it was no where near as bad as the buildup. It was chewy and tough, as expected. What was a really odd sensation, though, was having it move around in my mouth, sucking to my tongue or the side of my cheek. We had to be sure to chew it for a long time. Apparently people die from swallowing the tentacles too early, and they will suction right on to the throat, choking the person to death. What a way to go, eh?



After a while, the dish settles down. But once you agitate them such as poke the plate with a chopstick, or place it in sauce, they start wiggling around again. This is what it looked like swimming around in some gochugang. It looked "especially weird," to quote myself from the video, in that red thick sauce.



Anyway, I really did eat it, if that is hard to believe. Official photo documentation below:




Notice I only had to use one chopstick. It suctioned right on.

As mentioned before though, I am off to China in a day. I can only hope that I get to do things that are 100x weirder. We are ringin in a new (lunar) year, folks.